NEW YORK: Buzzer, an OTT live-sports streaming service, Thursday announced the successful close of a $20 million Series A financing.
The round was led by existing investor Sapphire Sport and new investor Canaan Partners. Substantial new investments came from a diverse group of industry leaders spanning sports, business and entertainment, including basketball all time great Michael Jordan and retired ice hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky.
Other notable investors include more than 20 current and former athletes including Pat Connaughton, Madison Hammond, Scotty James, Christian McCaffrey, and Apolo Ohno; team owners David Blitzer [New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia 76ers], GSW Sports Ventures [an affiliate of the Golden State Warriors], Steve Kaplan [D.C. United, Swansea City], Steve Koonin [Atlanta Hawks], Lerner Enterprises [Washington Nationals], Stephen Pagliuca [Boston Celtics], Michael Jordan and Curtis Polk [Charlotte Hornets, 23XI Racing], Steve Simon [Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever], Jeffrey Vinik [Tampa Bay Lightning], and WISE Ventures [shared ownership of Minnesota Vikings, Orlando City SC, Orlando Pride]; influential leaders in the sports and entertainment community including Ros Gold-Onwude, Ibrahim Hamad, Devin Johnson, Estee Portnoy, and Taylor Rooks; and investment firms Black Capital, Chetrit Ventures, JDS Sports, Jump Capital, LionTree Partners, OneTeam Partners, Targa Partners, and Micromanagement Ventures, the fund of the late David Stern.
The new financing will help the Buzzer team build new product features that lean into the social aspect of sports, develop new partnership opportunities, as well as grow with key hires.
“With the proliferation of new distribution platforms, fans are finding it harder to know when and where live sports are happening, creating an experience that is not optimized for their expansive interests based on how they consume. We envision Buzzer becoming the discovery and curation tool that brings Gen Z fans back to live sports with simple access to ephemeral moments,” says Bo Han, founder and CEO of Buzzer. “We’re grateful to have so many influential industry leaders as partners who have a shared vision of creating a platform and community built to close the generational gap in live sports consumption. We’ll continue to build Buzzer with fans’ interests in mind and with a partner-first approach that presents new opportunities for them to reach net new audiences, define new revenue streams, and offer added value to their existing subscribers.”
“Buzzer is addressing the biggest challenge facing the global sports industry, which is how to make live media rights more accessible and ultimately more valuable. Bo and the Buzzer team’s partner-first, industry-advancing approach centered on personalization, data and mobility serves leagues, teams, RSNs, national networks and OTT / DTC products equally,” says Sapphire Sport partner Michael Spirito who also joins the company’s board. “We are thrilled to continue to help Buzzer bring this vision to life and to welcome so many diverse and influential investors to this round as we build on the momentum we have with the NBA, NHL and PGA deals.”
Current league partners include NBA League Pass, PGA TOUR and NHL with additional partnerships slated to announce in the coming months as Buzzer continues to expand as a multi-sport, aggregated platform.
